Longtime Florida Blue lobbyist Mike Hightower to retire

Mike Hightower, Florida Blue’s vice president of government and legislative relations, will retire from the company Friday.

“For more than 30 years, Mike Hightower has been the government relations face of our company, working on behalf of the organization and our stakeholders with virtually every facet of local and state government,” Jason Altmire, senior vice president of public policy and community engagement for Florida Blue, said in a statement.

In addition to his position with Florida Blue, Hightower has long been active in a variety of political and civic issues, particularly the political ones.

Among other roles, he was chairman of George Bush’s presidential campaign in Northeast Florida in 2000, John Peyton’s mayoral campaign in 2007 and former head of the Duval County Republican Party.

He’s the current chairman of JEA’s board of directors and last year, he was named chairman of Associated Industries of Florida, one of the state’s biggest business advocacy groups.